


To the Stars and Back

by Enna_Spooky_Trash



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lowkey Shyan, One-Shot, Or use a microscope, Stargazing, basically the ghoul bois are on the run, got embroiled in some crazy shit, if you squint hard enough - Freeform, sleeping on the forest floor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 12:12:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14811174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enna_Spooky_Trash/pseuds/Enna_Spooky_Trash
Summary: “Mm. Okay. We’re in a forest. Somewhere in the middle-of-nowhere, I don’t know. We’re sleeping on the ground. Like, the literal ground. We’re ravenous, we’re freezing. I have a huge ass bruise on my cheek. You have that huge ass cut on your arm. Wow, you’re right Ryan. This is such a doozy of a situation.”Or in which Ryan got too involved in a True Crime ep, and drags Shane along with him.





	To the Stars and Back

**Author's Note:**

> This one's based on that one alien-that-isn’t-really-about-aliens movie that made me cry.

Shane Madej didn’t think it was possible that he could sleep in a more uncomfortable place than when doing Unsolved.

He absolutely hates it whenever Ryan drags him to whatever bumfuck location he had in mind for one of their little ghostly spiels. The place was usually dark and dank, smelling of mildew and piss and rotting wood and something else that he didn’t even want to know. He also wasn’t a big fan of sleeping on dirt floors that had been covered with muck and who-knows-what for ages, or on beds that were too short that he either had to curl up into a ball just to fit, or say fuck it and let his feet dangle like some gangly dumbass who couldn’t get enough of – long story short, he definitely, _absolutely_ hates it.

So when he found himself sleeping on the forest floor, by a river bank that was muddy as hell, without any camp bed _or_ a blanket, shivering as the wind howled through the thickset of trees whose shadows loomed threateningly over them, he supposed he should’ve appreciated what small luxury he had before it was gone.

Because boy, oh boy, was it gone now.

The damp had started to seep through his ragged, already wet jacket, but he couldn’t have cared less; when they had stumbled out of the river, drenched and shaking, he had suggested a little break, and after some shambling about to find a suitable spot, he immediately fell on his back and slept like the dead.

Come to think of it, it might be even better if he was, because then he wouldn’t be running around like a lunatic, getting chased by a serial killer on the loose, just because of some stupid show In a stupid company that he had agreed to be a part –

Ryan wasn’t stupid, though.

Ah, what the heck.

He didn’t know what woke him up, or what time it was, only that it was still dark out, and that everything hurts. His muscles were cramping, his neck felt stiff, his throat was dry and sore, and – yep, huge bruise at the side of his face? Still there. All in a day’s work in the wacked up life of Shane Madej.

He also knew, after a moment of furious blinking, that Ryan was by his side now, arms wrapped around his knees, gazing almost blankly straight ahead, barely even moving, as if he’d stayed like that for quite a long while.

“R-Ry?” he croaked. Ryan jumped, whipping around to face him, eyes wide with terror.

“J-Jesus -- don’t do that!” he said, smacking Shane’s shoulder lightly, looking annoyed. “Jeez, dude.”

Shane snorted, heaving himself into a sitting position. “Don’t tell me what to do, Bergara.” He stretched stiffly, wincing as he did so. “Oh god that hurts…” He turned back to Ryan. “So. What’s up?”

Ryan stared. “Other than getting caught in a cold case with the killer out to murk us? Nothing much. Didn’t miss anything out when you took your little nap.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Shane glanced at him. “Did you sleep?”

“I…” Ryan swallowed, shook his head once. “I don’t think I can.”

“Why not?”

“I… Jesus, Shane!” He gestured agitatedly around him; the dark forest, the rushing river, the fog and mist that never seemed to go away. “Why do you think?”

“Mm. Okay. We’re in a forest. Somewhere in the middle-of-nowhere, I don’t know. We’re sleeping on the ground. Like, the literal ground. We’re ravenous, we’re freezing. I have a huge ass bruise on my cheek. You have that huge ass cut on your arm. Wow, you’re right Ryan. This is such a doozy of a situation.”

Ryan burst out laughing, before he gasped and covered his mouth with his hand, attempting to hold his laughter in. Shane grinned.

“Fucking… you just had to…” Ryan shook his head, smiling despite of himself. “You’re such an asshat, Madej.”

“Gotta do it once in a while Ry. Everything’s dark enough as it is.”

“Heh… right.”

Silence descended upon them. The forest was unusually quiet tonight; he had expected to hear scuffles, rustles here and there, noises that might mean danger to his already exhausted mind, and that might drive Ryan’s bat shit crazy. But everything was still, tranquil; the mist was starting to clear up now, and slivers of moonlight had pierced through the leaf canopy right above their heads. If everything wasn’t so crazy and insane and fucked up, Shane would’ve thought this was beautiful, serene, peaceful. There was a certain charm to it, lying in the forest with the vast number of stars twinkling on the velvety skies. A certain beauty to it.

“By the way,” he heard his coworker gulp, saw him look away. “I never got to say sorry.”

Shane blinked, confused. “What the… What are you… _what for_?”

“For… for all this! For dragging you into whatever the fuck this shit is… for not letting – for getting… fucking damn it this was all my fault and –”

“Hey… hey there buddy,” Shane placed a hand on Ryan’s shouldeer, squeezing it gently, “it’s all cool. Look, I think I knew what I was signing up for.” Ryan glared at him. “Well, okay… bit of a stretch… but hey, if it makes you feel any better, I’d rather have this than –oh you know – looking for your ghoulie ghosts that don’t even exist.”

“You’re fucking unbelievable. I…. Oh, God.” Ryan hung his head, hands gripping his hair. “Shit, Shane. What have we gotten ourselves into?”

“Coughing it up to the usuals. Spooky stuff, fate being a bitch, all of that pizzazz.” In truth he had absolutely no idea, but Ryan sounded so scared, so small, and fucking damn it everything seemed so bleak the least he could do was make fun of it somehow.

Ryan, however, wasn’t listening. He was still clutching his hair, rocking back and forth. “What if he’d get us? What if we’d be on the run forever? What if we’d never get back to work and to LA? And if we do, what are we going to say? What are _they_  going to say? Fuck, what if we.. what if we get killed… what if you get killed and I… I d-don’t know… c-couldn’t even do anything about—”

“Okay, whoa there Bergara.” He hated having to hear them, hated hearing the jumble of thoughts currently streaming and swirling around his head, because hearing them being spoken out loud makes them real and imminent and inevitable, a grim confirmation of what’s coming up next. Hearing them being spoken out loud by Ryan however, was a hundred times worse. Ryan, with his bright smiles and infectious laughter. Ryan, with his stupid theories and his firm conviction of what he stands for. Ryan, one of his best friends in the world, possibly ending up like Tinsley and Owen and all those cases they’ve covered…

He mentally shook himself. “Alright just… just...take it slow with the overintellectualizing, pal, because this gangly motherfucker isn’t going anywhere.” He gripped Ryan’s shoulder even tighter, his voice shaking slightly, “and neither are you.”

Silence. Shane sighed, looking heavenwards. He gasped. “Holy shit! Ryan, look!”

He regretted shouting at once; Ryan was so startled he propelled to his feet, pulling Shane along with him. “W-what--? Is he coming? Did you see—oh fuck, run—!”

“I… no… wait… slow down, you asshole!” He wrenched his arm from Ryan’s grip, before pointing upwards. “The sky, Ryan! Look at the sky!”

He saw his coworker do so, saw him go white to deathly pale. “Oh my god. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“I… _what_?”

“We’ve gotta hide. I’m not getting your sorry ass all the way up here just to get abducted—”

“Abduct—? What…. No…” He was laughing now. What a dumbass. “It’s a fucking meteor shower, Ryan! A meteor shower! Jesus.”

Ryan slowed, squinting his eyes at the sky. Shane saw him visibly relax.

“A meteor shower,” he said. “God, that was stupid.”

“You bet it was,” Shane wheezed. The whole thing was hysterical. Or maybe it was just the hunger kicking in. “Christ… sometimes I wonder why we’re even friends.”

“Shut up, Shane.” Ryan trained his gaze at what seemed like silvery rain that streaked from the inky blackness downwards, stars that had run from the skies to the earth. “I never saw a meteor shower before.”

“Don’t think I did, too.” Shane replied, slowly sitting back down. Ryan did the same. “Hey, we can scratch that off our bucket list now.” He looked at his colleague, smirking. “Did you… oh my god, did you seriously think they were aliens?”

“I was scared, Shane!” Ryan said defensively. “And… and who knows, maybe some…. Some E.T. from Orion did disguise themselves as shooting stars… just—just driving up their lil’ spaceship—”

“Who said anything about Orion?”

“Wha--? Look up, that’s clearly the belt… and the arrow—”

“Nope.” Shane put his hands behind his head, leaning against the tree. “That’s Perseus, baby. Look at that lil’ lonely star... definitely Medusa’s head, chopped up and ready to serve.”

Ryan wheezed. “You just made that up.”

“It’s a fact and you know it pal.” He shook his head. “Imagine hearing that from a person who mistook stars for aliens—“

“I told you a dozen times, there are loads of evidences that suggest—”

“Wrong seson for that, Bergara. Now zip it.”

“But what if—”

“Ryan look.” He sat up a little straighter. “We’re being chased by a psychopath who wants the both of us dead. If seeing this… this majestic phenomenon is the next best thing after getting out of this alive then sure. I’ll take it. I’ll take anything that isn’t about blood, and guts and crazy, crazy assholes who are on the hunt for two Buzzfeed idiots. So shut up and gaze at the stars, Bergara.”

“You’re such a dick, Madej.” But he did it anyway, in the stillness of the glittering forest by the sparkling river.  
So sure, Shane abhors having to sleep in a shitty location in Bumfuck, Nowhere, with a bloody lunatic trailing behind. But Ryan was there, and he was too, and that was enough to lull both of them to sleep.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all this is my first fic in this fandom, and I hope I did it justice? Like I love the boys so much they literally barged into my life screaming "GHOULIE GHOSTS" except Shane is being scornful and Ryan is fucking terrified. :'))


End file.
